Good Bye 2008

Here we are on New Year's Eve, 2008. I'm sitting here with the laptop, Mike is making venison jerky and we're watching ESPN. PARTY ON!!! We've never been big partiers on New Year's Eve (or ever), and ever since we had Paige, we've gotten even more boring. It's really just another night.

So Christmas kind of sucked. Paige and I had a pretty decent Christmas Eve, we made cookies and brought them over to the neighbor's. I made a really good lasagna for supper that night and Paige opened a few presents. She woke us up at 6 am on Christmas morning and I was just about dead when she woke us up. I actually told her to go back to bed, but of course that was unrealistic. She opened up more presents and we went to church. Came home, lounged for a while, then packed up and headed to my in laws near Hayward. Mike's stepdad was half in the bag, as usual, and his mom was at work. They didn't have a Christmas tree up. Good times. We went up to Hayward on Friday to spend the day with Mike's dad and stepmom. We actually had a pretty decent time there. We spent all day Saturday at his mom and stepdad's house. UGH. We finally convinced her to get out her fake tree Saturday afternoon, after asking her several times and telling her we almost bought her a fake tree at Walmart so they'd put one up. Her response "Christmas is over." Nice. So Mike brought in her fake 3 foot tree and we spent all of 5 minutes pulling the branches down, putting up one string of lights and one of garland and the tree skirt. Why her and her useless lazy husband couldn't do that, I'm not sure. The stepdad pissed me off several times that day. The first time was when he was talking to his daughter Saturday afternoon and said how bored he was and on his third brandy already. So are we that terrible that you have to drink to get through our visit? The other time was when I put Paige in time out after listening to her sassy mouth all day. He actually sat there and motioned to her to come out of time out. Um, no. Do not undermine my discipline.

Paige slept like crap the whole time we were there. The first night Mike had to lay with her until she fell asleep, and the next 2 nights we let her watch her dvd player to fall asleep. We NEVER do that. She is such a good sleeper at home, and is usually falling asleep while we read to her. Saturday morning she was up at 5 am. Sunday morning was....interesting. She came in our room at 2 am and said she was up for the day. Again um, no. We sent her back to her room and told her to watch her dvd player. She came back in at 3:30 am and said she was up for the day. Oh no. Sent her back to her room and she came back in at 4am. Frustrated, Mike laid down with her. When I got up a few hours later, he said she never fell back asleep after 4am. She says she never fell back asleep after she came in our room at 2am and I believe her. She's usually pretty honest about that stuff. So we were understandably extremely crabby Sunday morning and started packing up our stuff to go. Mike's mom thought we were mad at her (well, I was) so Mike and her talked about the stuff that pissed us off this weekend. She said she'd talk to Dave about it, but he's such an asshole, he'll just blow it off. Luckily Paige slept the whole way home, so the trip home was pretty uneventful. I just about cried with relief when we walked in the door. It's so good to be home!!!

I have lost all respect for Mike's mom. I don't even refer to her as my mother in law. It's always Mike's mom. The way she left Mike's dad was so shady. She left with a note and had been cheating on him with her now husband for who knows how long. She went right from the house she shared with her husband of 30 years to her boyfriend's house. Her husband is such an idiot. As my dad, who doesn't talk badly about ANYONE said "boy he really knows everything about everything, huh?" He's is so arrogant and thinks he's this all knowing genius about every topic. He used to do business in GB and thinks that the Prime Quarter is the coolest place to eat. Yeah, it's not 1993. He claims that he used to see Packers there. If I'm going to pay for a restaurant meal, I'm damn sure not cooking it. I don't know of anyone that goes to Prime Quarter. We were telling them about Hu Hot and they totally ignored us. His mom had turned into a materialistic bitch and we honestly think they reason she fell for this guy is because he has a lot of money and a house on the lake. She had an Explorer but it wasn't good enough. She wanted an Expedition so she got one.

Whatever. Enough bitching.

Because I have bad timing, I was fertile while we were at the in laws. Great. And I have to take OPKs to determine when I ovulate so I can go in for 7 day post O progesterone test. So everytime I went to the bathroom I had to take this stupid little cup and dipstick in the bathroom. I cannot pee in a cup without peeing all over myself. What a pain. Of course I got a positive on Friday. So we managed to do it 2 out of the 3 nights we were there. Not fun. I'm not a quiet girl.

After day 3 of mother-daughter togetherness, Paige and I are both still alive and not in the loony bin. We had a nice lazy day at home on Monday. Yesterday we went to Badger Bouncers for 2.5 hours, best place EVER! It really wore her out. Today we were driving each other crazy, so we went to GB in the afternoon to run errands. Tomorrow Mike is home all day with us. Maybe we'll go tubing. Friday we are going to a friend's house in the morning. I have my progesterone test on Friday. Not sure if I'll go to the hospital in GB or to the clinic in Oconto.

The cat is still awesome. He's fattening up nicely and is starting to become more playful. He gained three pounds in 2 weeks! He could probably gain another 2-3 pounds.

I got new glasses and picked them up today. I really like them alot!

2008 was a good year. I hope 2009 is just as good, and brings us the baby we want so badly!

T-Minus 30 Minutes

Until I'm outta here! I won't be coming back until January 5th, 2009. For some unknown reason I took vacation until after New Year's because Paige is off of school and I figured we could get in some quality time. I must have been having a sappy sentimental moment because I'm now wondering wtf was I thinking?!?!?! I'm going to have to line up a bunch of stuff to do to keep us occupied. So far, it's picking up my orthotic inserts on the morning of December 30th and then heading to a playdate with my mom's group at this bounce house place. After that....wide open. It could get ugly.

Not much new to report here. Just putzing along in our own weird world, to quote my friend Melissa. Hard to believe Christmas is only 2 days away.

I'm feeling a little....meloncholy I guess about Christmas. My whole life, we've always spent Christmas at my 2 grandparent's houses down by Milwaukee. They live about 10 minutes apart from each other. Christmas Eve has always been with my mom's side and Christmas Day with my dad's side. Every single year. Without fail. Last year Mike and I broke tradition. We went down there, but came back on Christmas Eve because we wanted to spend Christmas Day at our house. It became really important to us to spend Christmas Day at our house and have our own traditions. We caught a lot of hell for it, but it was worth it. This year, Mike has to work on Christmas Eve, so it will be just Paige and I tomorrow. Just another day. That kind of makes me sad because I almost enjoy Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day. On Christmas Day, she'll open her Santa presents, we'll go to church, and then sometime leave to go up north to Mike's family. It's a 5 hour drive and I'm just kind of bummed that we are travelling so far on Christmas Day. Part of me wanted to head to Milwaukee and spend time with my family, especially my sister and Dylan, but there will be lots of relatives visiting on both sides and basically no room for us to stay. The 3 of us staying home all weekend is not an option. We'll drive each other crazy. BTW, we love each other, this is just how it is. But I'm hoping we'll have a decent time up north. Of course, we have to divide our time equally and spend one day at his dad's house and one day with his mom. We're sleeping at his mom's because his dad has a dog and 100 cats (Ok, 4) which causes Duchess to act even more retarded than usual.

Next weekend, we are all gathering at my mom and dad's house to have our immediate family Christmas. That will be a lot of fun. We did it last year and am really looking forward to it.

Everyone around here is hustling and bustling about, cooking and getting ready to be with family on Christmas. Tomorrow, it's going to be just Paige and I. The day after, Mike, Paige and I. Why this bums me out, I'm not sure. I feel like I should cook a big meal at least one of those days, but it doesn't seem to make sense when it's just the three of us.

But life is good other than that. Max is still awesome. Duchess acts like we are ignoring her, but I think we're giving her more attention than normal-and she knows it.

Maybe the Third Time Will be the Charm

So I visit podiatrist numero dos today. Not a fan. Maybe he was more competent than cigarette chain smoker non glove wearing podiatrist numero uno, but he was a huge jerk.

The exam room door was left wide open the whole time I was there! So everyone in that clinic in earshot knows I take lexapro and clomid. Great. So I'm the crazy babymaker. He comes in, looks at my bandaged right toe (under strict instructions from pod #1 to leave the recovering ingrown toenail removed bandaged), asks what's up with the bandage and when I tell him it was removed by pod #1, he flinches and sort of shook his head. Um, what? So he asks me how he removed it and I was like, I didn't really watch him stick a sharp metal thing under my toenail and remove it, thanks. I told him that I knew he killed the root so it wouldn't grow back. Of course in his infinate wisdom, that was not good enough. This guy was such an arrogant jerk.

So moving onto the PF. I tell him I was just diagnosed and want a more specific treatment plan. He pokes around on my heel, rushes through and explanation of what PF is, and continues to bash pod #1. This time it's because he only had the inserts custom made (and bashed the way he did that) and didn't give me anything to manage the pain. In pod #1's defense, I did think I may be preggo and told this to pod #2. He said there's other things he could have done like ultrasound therapy. Whatever. Then he tells me he took over for pod #1 while pod #1 was sick, when pod #1 came back, he took back all of his "good" (read non MA patients) and left pod #2 with what he felt were the shitty patients. OK, so don't play out your personal vendetta against the man to me, K? So he states that the inserts he gives out are the best and better than custom made ones. Fine. He slaps a pair in my shoes. Again, fine. Then he gives me a cortisone shot, sends me home with celebrex and tells me to come back next week. No information about stretching, icing, how often to change my shoes, etc. Not at all what I came in for, and told him that's what I wanted.

He was basically a moneymaker. He had patients crammed in back to back, and told me that he loved flip flops because it brought more business to him. When I check back in with the front desk, the lady tells me that they want people to pay up front for the inserts and it will be $28. What an effing scam. He put the inserts in my shoes and had me put my shoes on right away. So I couldn't return them. So I made the follow up appointment, but I think I'm going to cancel it. I got a couple of other docs names in Green Bay. One is so good he's backed up until March. One I left a message with in the middle of a workday and they never got back to me. Weird. One I could get in in January, and I haven't called the other one yet. I'm going to call the one back where I could get in in January and do a little begging and pleading to see if they can get me in soon.

I am seriously pissed that he gave me the cortisone shot. I did a little bit of research on the internet about cortisone shots and I'm a little worried. It made my foot hurt so bad, I had to ice it and take ibuprofen. It's better, but my foot feels like I got a tetanus shot. I guess it will feel better tomorrow, but the internet said to use this after other treatments haven't worked because of the side effects (like PAIN). He also sent me home with Celebrex which I've decided I'm not taking. I looked on the celebrex website and I don't like the risks associated with it. I'll take some ibuprofen or aleve to reduce the inflammation. I also have no idea what he's going to do next week.

I am just so mad about those stupid inserts. I hope they work. I felt like I was totally scammed. I've come to the conclusion that any doctor who specializes in feet is probably a little strange, but the 2 I have been to are just bad doctors.

Feeling Blue

I don't know what's going on with me the past few days. I honestly feel like I need to increase my happy pill dosage. I don't want to be at work and am doing as much as I can to not be there-sleeping late, setting up dr. apts. this week (they are legit one eye apt. and one podiatrist apt.), coming home after a car seat apt. to make phone calls, etc. When I'm there, I do piddly putzy stuff or dink around on the internet. I'm keeping candy in one of my drawers and eating it constantly. Can we say emotional eating? I'm snapping at Mike and feel like the world's biggest bitch to him. In a nutshell, I just feel blue.

Tonight for example was extremely stressful. It was Paige's school Christmas play. It started at 6pm and we were told to get there 15 minutes early. So we pull in at 5:45pm and the parking lot is full. WTF?!?!? The school and church are connected and the play is going on in the church. We walk in to the church and it's packed. Again, WTF?!?!? Did a different note go out saying get there at 5:30 pm? Shit like that really stresses me out. So Mike goes to get us a seat and I take Paige back to her classroom to get her costume on. As we walk through the school, I see that pretty much every other kid is all dressed and ready to go. At this point, I'm feeling like the world's biggest loser. Also we pass a few parents and no one says hello. I'm feeling very left out and I hate that feeling. So I get Paige into her costume and walk back out by Mike. We were also asked to bring some snacks for a social afterwards and I'm still carrying these stupid treats I brought. Not one parent told me where to bring the food. It's our first year at this school and we have no idea what's going on. Finally we get back to our seats and I see some of the parents and siblings are all dressed up and everyone has these red programs. UGH! Why are we so retarded? We're wearing jeans and tennies. So I tell Mike I'm about ready to have a nervous breakdown for all of these reasons. He's so good. He tells me not to worry about it and stays by me for a few minutes. Then he gets up and asks someone where to take the treats and where to get the programs. He never once made fun of me or made me feel bad. That is why I love this man. He puts up with my weird neurotic shit. Once the play started, I finally relaxed. Paige did great, she remembered her line and sang all the words to the songs she was supposed to. She was so cute!

At the "social" we sat by some people to try to get to know them and they basically ignored us. It's so hard to break into this town. I guess we just have to give it time.

Max the Cat

So as I posted before, we took in a stray cat Tuesday night. I was told on Thursday that we couldn't surrender him to the Humane Society until we kept him for 8 days. Even on the way to the Humane Society, I was having second thoughts and called Mike to tell him this. He has since told me that after I told him I was having 2nd thoughts that he knew we were keeping the cat. I think I knew all along too, especially after I went to the store after the Humane Society and bought a scratching post, food and water bowl and toys. So I call the vet Thursday to make an appointment for Max and we got in the next day. I just wanted to get him checked out to see how old he was and if he was healthy. We didn't want to keep a 12 year old sickly cat who could go in a month after we all got attached.

So the vet tells us he's a nuetered male. WTF???!!?!?! And also that he's about 4 years old. He only weighs 8 pounds and should probably weigh at least 12. He's got a long body so when he fills out, he'll be a big boy. After they told us he was a nuetered male, I knew then that he was definitely someone's cat and I became so conflicted. So someone took the time and money to neuter him. He was obviously someone's pet at one time, so do I spend time and energy looking for his owner? What if we find his owner and we have to give him back? The vet also recommended $20for deworming and $26.50 for a rabies shot. OK, so again how much do I stick into this cat knowing he belonged to someone who may be looking for him? Between the kitty litter, food, litter dish, toys, scratching post, and exam, we've already stuck $100 into this cat. Now they want us to spend another $50 or so for a cat we may not keep or have to give back? UGH!!!! Oh and he has an upper respiratory infection so they gave us a $20 bottle of medicine. It's given him the shits. Nothing like hearing your cat have the shits right outside your bedroom door. That's the life.

So I took him home and gave Mike the scoop. We make the decision to keep him. With how skinny he was, we figured he'd been away from home for a long time. Our sitter suggested the name Max, and that's what we decided on. Max the Cat. He really is a good boy and is already rubbing up against Duchess. Duchess has quit chasing him around the house which is nice. Max is kind of hyper in the early morning, but we figure once we figures us out, he'll learn our routine, just like Duchess did. Duchess's favorite place to hang out in the house is under Paige's bed and when we came home today from church, both Max and Duchess were under her bed! Cute! He hasn't quite taken to Mike as much as to Paige and I. He'll crawl up on the couch by Mike but won't go sit in his lap or let Mike pick him up. Paige could just about grab him and carry him around by the tail and he'd let her. He follows me wherever I go, and after I'd been in the basement sewing tonight for about an hour, he came down and started to meow at me, like it was time to come back upstairs! I'm still getting used to having shit in my house, but I suppose that will come.

My parents and sister are not animal lovers at all and really don't like the dog. My dad knows about the cat, but I don't know if he told my mom or sister yet. The cat might set them over the edge. I wish they were more animal lovers. I like to think we did a good deed by bringing Max in the other night, but anyone would have brought him in after hearing that pathetic meow. Well anyone except my family.

Dylan Thomas

I know most of my peeps are probably really sick of hearing about this, but I am so excited to be an auntie!

Kristin called me on the morning of Wednesday, December 4th saying she starting having contractions around 2am that morning and they quit around 6:30 am, and were irregular. I told her that my contractions were irregular for about the 1st 8 hours and to keep me posted. I called her around 10am and 3:30 pm that day and nothing else had happened. She was crabby-understandable.

That night she started having contactions again and her and Tom went to the hospital around 10pm or so. She was not dilated and her contractions were irregular again, so they told her she could either go home and come back when they got regular, or stay the night and get induced in the morning. They went home were she had irregular contractions most of the night. They went back to the hospital the next day, late morning because they were so intense. Around 10 am on Thursday morning she called and said she was at the hospital and around 3 cm. I was so excited!!!! I burst into my friend Lisa's office, told her the news and danced around for a while! I was supposed to go to Madison for a work conference that day and am so glad that I didn't.

She called back that afternoon and said she was still 3-4 cm. I was supposed to go to GB that night for my mom's group Christmas party, so I said I'd stop by before the party. I got there around 6pm and she was only 5cm. She had just gotten the epi, some pitocin and her water broken. She looked really tired. I went to my party and had lots of fun! Went back to the hospital around 11pm and she had progressed to 8cm. Visited with her until about midnight, she made no progress while I was there. Several times while I was in the room, the baby's heartrate would drop suddenly and come back up again. I was so nervous, but tried to act normal. I left and made my mom promise to call as soon as the baby was born. I didn't want to leave, but I had a 45 minute drive, and knew I had to get up the next morning with Paige. Around 2am, I got a call from my mom saying "It's a boy!" I knew all along it was a boy!

Kristin started pushing not long after I left, and after about 40 minutes, he was just not coming down and his heartrate kept dropping. The doctor recommended a c-section and Kristin and Tom agreed. So Dylan Thomas, all 6 lbs. 14 oz of him arrived by c/s at 1:42 am on Friday, December 5th, 2008. When my mom called, they hadn't named him yet, so Kristin called back the next morning and told me he was Dylan Thomas. I wasn't crazy about the name Dylan at first, but it has really grown on me. I like it combined with Thomas. Paige and I visited them on Friday morning and I got her back in time for school. The three of us went back on Sunday to visit.

It is so weird to see my little sister as a mom. She is doing so well and recovering from the c/s beautifully. She has not once complained about the pain and is moving around like nothing ever happened. She's not pushing herself, but she's also not having us wait on her hand and foot. She is committed to nursing and is doing so well with that. I am so proud of her! I am so glad she is not going through the horrible PPD that I went through.

I visited them at home this past Friday while my dad watched Paige. He has the most easygoing temperment. He never cries!!! He sleeps so much that Kristin has to wake him up to feed him! Even when we put him in his crib to sleep, or in his car seat so Kristin could show me how tight his straps are, he did not make a peep! Paige could be almost comatose and I'd lay her in her crib so gently, but as soon as her body hit that crib, she'd wake up and cry. He's already up to 7 lbs. 4oz and Kristin is making milk like it's going out of style. It's pretty hilarious actually!

I have pictures of him on FB, but I'll have to post a few from yesterday. He's changed so much in a week already!

Cat Rescuer Update

So I stop at the Oconto Humane Society today on my way home to get the cat and bring her back there. Good thing I did. They don't accept stray cats from Oconto Falls because apparently we have "animal control." Read: keep the animals in an outdoor cage for a week, then shoot it. So we can keep the cat for 8 days total, advertise her as a found stray and then she is considered ours after 8 days. When she's considered ours we can surrender her to the Humane Society. Great. So Paige will become even more attached. So I stopped at Pamida to get a scratching post, food and water dish and a few toys. Now we've stuck $40 into this cat. I made an appointment for an exam for her tomorrow-another $32. I have no idea what to do. I'm thinking about keeping it in the basement with the door closed until she's declawed and then keeping her. She can scratch up my basement furniture and there is plenty of room for her to roam around there. It's one big room. Stay tuned.

Cat-Rescuer

Tuesday night Mike and Paige were shovelling the snow and as I let the dog out to get in their way, I hear this pathetic "meow" about 100 times in a row. I follow the sound out to underneath my neighbor's truck and see this poor kitty outside freezing and scared out of her mind. I pull her out and feel that she is skin and bones. You can literally see her spine and she has absolutely nothing on her. I bring her in the house, wrap her up and she keeps meowing. I opened up a can of tuna and she DEVOURED it. So I'm like "now what?" Mike and I have kicked around the idea of getting a cat and we figure this is a good way to test drive one. She obviously hasn't belonged to someone in a LONG time with the condition that she was in. BTW, we have no idea if she's a she, we are just assuming she is.

So Mike runs up to the store to get cat food, kitty litter, a pooper scooper and a litter container. We warn Paige that we are may not keep her, we have to see how she'll work out with us. We feed her some more and she seems quite content. She makes herself right at home by climbing up on top of our recliner and sitting there like Queen Sheba. She tolerates Duchess being halfway up her ass and Paige manhandling her. She has obviously been someone's pet at one time. She even used the litter box!

However, when we went to bed, she became truly obnoxious. She would not stop meowing, crawling all over us, or digging in her litter box which was right outside our bedroom door at the end of the hall. At one point in the night, I was awoken by the sound of her digging in the litter box followed by the scent of cat shit. Lovely. Also because Duchess is truly retarded and thought she was a dog and wanted to play, I was kept awake by the sound of her footsteps chasing the cat all over the house. Which doesn't sound so bad, but we have (fake) hardwood floor in our hallway, living room and kitchen. So it was loud. Finally at 4 am, we put the cat, her food and water and litter box in Duchess's kennel downstairs. We could still hear her pathetic meow, but it wasn't as bad.

Because I don't trust cats and have never had one, they kind of freak me out because they can go ANYWHERE. I had visions of my couch being scratched all to hell and my Christmas tree being destroyed when I got home. So being the big meanie I am, we kept her in the kennel yesterday while we were both gone. We let her out while we were home, but put her back in last night and today. This cat is not declawed and we have caught her digging her claws into our furniture a few times. I also noticed my bedspread has a few small holes in it from her scratching.

So because of this paranoia, we've decided to give her up to the Humane Society. I think I can best sum it up by saying, I like cats, just not in my house. Paige was pretty upset by it, but we told her that we are just not the right home for this cat and that we are lucky to have Duchess. We have also kicked around the idea of getting another dog, but a small one like a mini schnauzer or shih tzu. I'm looking online for ones to adopt. So I'm going to run home today, get the cat and bring her back to Oconto to the Humane Society. Like I said, she is the sweetest thing and would make an excellent family cat, especially for someone with kids and a dog. She seemed to warm up to Duchess and even meowed and scratched at Paige's door when Duchess was in there while Mike read Paige her bedtime books. She seems like me the best and follows me around. I sometimes have second thoughts, but I know I just couldn't trust a cat in our house while I'm gone. Maybe that will change, but that's how I feel now. So, that just wouldn't be right to keep a cat crated up all day.

Hopefully she'll be online at the Oconto Humane Society website soon, and someone will adopt her. She'll be a great companion!

In the Market for a New Podiatrist

So last week Tuesday, I go to the podiatrist at the hospital in my little town. I'm all jazzed because I'm anxious to get this damn painful ingrown toenail removed and start treating the knife sticking out of my heel....I mean my plantar facitis. So the doctor removes my ingrown toenail, applies some solution that kills the part of the root where the ingrown toenail was growing out of (so it won't recur), has x-rays done of my foot, and diagnoses me with plantar facitis. Groovy. He tells me to make another appointment to start treatment for the plantar facitis. So I make an appointment for last week Friday. He seemed competent on Tuesday, but it all went downhill on Friday.

It all started on Friday when he walked in and introduced himself like we had never met before. Um, I was just here 3 days ago. I realize you may have forgotten me, but you're holding my chart in your hands. You could have read it over and pretended like you remembered me. I was in slight shock and said something like I was just here a few days ago for my plantar facitis and ingrown toenail. So he removes the bandaid from my ingrown tneoail, looks at it and says, yep we'll take care of that. HE STARTS TO TAKE OUT THE STUFF TO NUMB MY TOE AND REMOVE THE TOENAIL!!!! So slightly panicked, I exclaim "you just did this on Tuesday!!!" or something intelligent like that. So he apologizes and finally starts to look at my chart and realizes that yes indeedy he did remove my ingrown toenail 3 days ago. Oh and he reeks of cigarette smoke like he just chain smoked a pack in the last 20 minutes. So without washing his hands or putting on gloves, he gets out this metal pokey thingie that may or may not be sterile and starts poking my toe. He puts some gunk on it, bandages it back up and writes me a scrip for antibiotics. I'm wondering why he didn't prescribe antibiotics on Tuesday, but seeing how fast this appointment is going downhill, it really didn't surprise me.

Onto my heel. He starts to write me a prescription for something tor reduce the inflammation. I ask if this will interfere with pregnancy because Mike and I are ttc and I may be pregnant and just not know it. He says "no I don't think so" but then crumples up the paper and throws it away. He seems rather disgusted by this tidbit and again I'm wondering why he went through the trouble of writing the prescription. I told him I'm taking Clomid-I'm not taking it just to see if I really will get hot flashes and sore boobies. So apparently I'm not getting any medication to reduce the inflammation because he doesn't say anything else. He tells me that Marge, his wingman (wingwoman?) is going to see if orthotic shoe inserts are covered by my insurance. He leaves, and a few minutes later he and Marge walk in. Marge is carrying a bowl of water and these long paper mache looking strips. I'm wondering if we are going to start doing arts and crafts. He puts the chair all the way back and tells me to roll over on my stomach. WTF?!?!?!? So I do, and they start paper macheing my feet-making the molds for my handy dandy shoe inserts. It felt weird. So while this is going on, I'm asking all kinds of questions about how often to wear the inserts, icing my foot, should I wear shoes all day, how often should I get new shoes, etc. I was really looking for a specific treatment plan and got nothing. He basically blew off my questions and seemed like these inserts will magically cure me. No information on if I'll ever need new ones, do these wear out, etc. It was so weird. So I go out by Marge who tells me the inserts will be ready in 2-3 weeks. So I ask if my insurance covers these and she says that Oconto County employee insurance has covered them before so there shouldn't be a problem. She didn't even call my insurance!!!! Oh, but to reassure me she says, if insurance doesn't cover these, the hospital will "work with you on payments." Oh gee thanks, that's comforting. Then Marge gets in a dig about how government employees insurance is usually much better than those working in the private sector. Again, gee thanks. The 3 people in the waiting room glared at me for having good insurance. What they don't know is that I pay out the ass for it because I'm part time.

Good times. So yes, obviously I'm looking for a new podiatrist. This one scared the heebie jeebies out of me.

In other news, I have a nephew!!!! Dylan Thomas Barnhart was born on December 5th at 1:42 am. He is perfect and we love him dearly. Will post more later about that. I really should get to work. Plus Dylan deserves his own post!

My Own Personal MacGyver

I love my husband, I really do. I love the fact that he is fairly handy, and if something is broken around the house, he takes the bull by the horns and fixes it. Even with stitches on his hand and being super tired from the weekend, he tore apart the wash machine and concocted a fix for it consisting of electrical tape and wire. It seems a little iffy to me, but he assures me that it will work. And if it doesn't, then the part we need is only about $25. PHEW!!!! Not looking forward to having to shop for a new washer.

I'm done taking the clomid and did not have any side effects, which I'm happy about. Now it's time to pee on a stick and get the hubby to impregnate me.

In other medical news, I'm going to a podiatrist next week to get my ingrown toenail removed and my left heel evaluated. I think I have plantar facitis which hurts like a mo'fo. May as well take advantage of the fact that I met my deductible this year.

I think I've finally decided what to get Paige for Christmas. We'll get her that Barbie My House and ask my family for furniture for it. I'm also going to ask for the game Hullabaloo and this Play Doh ice cream maker thingie. We'll save the Leapster for her 5th birthday. I can see it really frustrating her right now.

I am so nuerotic. I have this wild hair up my ass that Paige's winter gear MUST MATCH. So I went to Younker's and Kohl's a few weeks ago and got her a black, white and pink jacket, black snowpants, pink boots, and a pink hat and mittens. Adorable. Also ran me about $80. Well last year Mike's dad and stepmom got her a blue winter jacket to wear this year. It fits her fine and looks really cute. Since I'm all stressed about money, I decide to try to find blue snowpants to match her blue jacket and take the other stuff back. After Margarita's last night (YUM-O) I ran to Fleet Farm, Walmart and Shopko and found nothing. Shopping in the big girl section really sucks. The clothes are so much more expensive. So after stressing about this the whole way home, I complain to Mike about it and he tells me to let it go and keep the stuff we have. She can wear the blue jacket and black snow pants on the weekends at home. He also tells me to chill out about her having to match. See why I love this man?

When It Rains It Pours

So because Mike was out of town this weekend, I guess the universe decided to conspire against us and break stuff in our house. The wash machine stops in mid cycle, leaving me with a load of semi-dirty clothes soaking in water and not moving. I have to keep turning the dial until I find a spot where it will keep moving on to the spin cycle. I think the dirty clothes are onto me and are multiplying as we speak.

As I backed out of the garage on Saturday night to go to my friend Amy's house for supper, the garage door opener blinked a bunch of times and would not close. It was pretty freaky looking. Mike has a bunch of expensive fishing stuff in there so I didn't want to leave it open while we were gone. So I shut it manually, but couldn't figure out how to lock it. So on Sunday I had to get out and open and shut it manually when we went out. Not fun.

Then I'm driving our truck because we are under strict orders from our mechanic not to drive the Taurus until it's been aligned. The power locks on the truck don't work which doesn't sound like a big deal, but it really is a huge pain in the ass. Plus only the passenger side door opens to the back seat so I always have to go around to that side to get Paige. The power locks not working wouldn't bother me too much, but you have to get the key in the lock JUST RIGHT for it to open. UGH. Couple this with Paige asking EVERY SINGLE TIME I put her in the car seat "are you going around the front of the truck mama, or the back?", I was really sick of driving the truck. Paige has suddenly developed this phobia about being alone in a vehicle and not being able to see either of us. She usually screams from the time we shut the door until we get in.

On Saturday night I get a call from Mike saying that he shot a doe, but as his group was cutting up the deer, one of his cousins basically just about sliced his fingers off (Mike's, not the cousin's). This is why it's important not to drink when weilding knives. Mike claimed that it wasn't that big of a deal, but I ordered him to go to an urgent care to get stitches the next day. Promising he would, I hung up and hoped for the best. Sunday I get a message from him saying that he went to the ER in Rice Lake because the urgent cares would have cost the same as the ER and you're supposed to get stitches in a cut within 12 hours after, not 24 like Mike thought. So yeah, that bill won't be expensive AT ALL.

I know I just went off on how we can afford to do what we want when we want, but I am seriously stressed about money now. Here's why:
$1600 for the Taurus (about $600 more than we thought)
$2000 for the new furnace
$400 for a new washer (most likely)
$375 for Paige's 2nd tuition payment due right after Christmas
$350 (guess) for our land taxes, due at the end of January
$1000 for my medical bills at Aurora (at least I met my deductible)
$500 for Mike's chiropracter, at $50 a month
$400 left at CMH for my ingrown toenails and bladdar infection

Oh yeah and Christmas!!!! The first three are going to be paid for by a cash advance on a credit card. Not thrilled about that but it's at 3% interest and we had to do it. No other options, since our house didn't appraise high enough for a home equity line of credit.

Here's an FYI for ya, HSG tests are expensive!!!! Plus another $50 to get the Taurus aligned. I'm getting that done Friday morning. At least I've met my deductible, so I'm calling a podiatrist tomorrow to get in this year yet for my plantar facitis and 3rd ingrown toenail in less than a year. I'm tempted to have him remove the whole damn nail. And my next progesterone test will be covered too. I think I'm going to be paying Aurora for the rest of my life.

I hear the kid crying, almost her bedtime THANK GOD. She has been a bear today. She's probably mad at us for sending her to daycare, ha ha.

Dear High and Mighty SAHMs

*DISCLAIMER* Before I proceed, I realize that maybe 2 out of my 5 readers are SAHMs. This post is not about you because I am friends only with super cool people. This blog is a place for me to vent and boy do I need to vent about this. There, you have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.

Dear High and Mighty SAHMs:
Get off of your high horse. Just because you SAH does not make you a good mother. Good moms come in all types. If I stayed at home, I would be a bad mom. I know this, and there is nothing wrong with admitting that.

I work because I HAVE TO!!!! I make about $9 more an hour than Mike, and even working 20 hours a week less than him, my yearly salary is still a little more than his. However, neither one of ours is enough to stay at home. I married Mike because he is a good, honest, loving man, not because he brings home the bacon, or because "he works hard enough to allow me to sah." If I hear that statement one more time, I may puke. We did not live together before we got married, so we each spent money on our own rent. Meaning we did not have a big down payment for a nice house. We live in a small house and like it that way. It's less to clean.

I am good at what I do. My work saves lives. That's a big deal. I'm working to make workplaces in Wisconsin smoke free, making cigarettes hard for kids to buy, helping women receive lifesaving mammograms and Pap tests, and saving your children's lives by making sure you have safe car seats and are using them properly. I also teach you how to prevent getting sick from the flu, MRSA, whooping cough, norovirus, etc. My work is rewarding and I'm glad that I have a career in the field I got my hard earned degree in. What a concept, huh?

*Stepping off of my high horse.*

I don't have to ask Mike for money. I contribute more than my share to our household income-it's our money and we spend it how we see fit. We can do what we want, when we want. We can afford to send Paige to a Catholic school. We can afford to give generously to our church and to Paige's Christian Witness projects at school. We can afford gas for our vehicles and don't have to say we can't go somewhere because it costs too much. We can take Paige to fun places and do fun things BECAUSE WE CAN AFFORD TO!!!!

Because I work, Mike sees me as more than only to a mother to his child. We are equal partners. I am not "under his thumb" and can go out with my friends when I want to, even if I've worked all day. He does not expect a hot cooked meal on the table every night when he gets home, clean laundry that's folded and put away, and a clean house. We each keep the house and laundry taken care of.

Do not feel bad for me. Do not feel bad for Paige. She is a sweet, healthy, active, smart child who loves life and loves to laugh. I think we're doing something right. She is learning to listen to and respect other adults besides Mike and I by being in daycare. She is learning to play with and socialize with kids of all ages by being in daycare. We are often complimented on her behavior and good manners. Yes, she is not perfect, but is a good kid overall. Do I miss her every minute of every day while I'm at work? No. Do I cry every morning when I leave her at daycare? No. Are there some mornings I'm thrilled to be dropping her off? You bet your ass. Yes, there are mornings when I feel pangs of guilt for dropping her off, and yes, there are days at work when work sucks and I wish I was at home, but that's ok. And yes, there are days when she is at daycare 10-11 hours a day...horror of horrors. I can live with that. I know I am doing the right thing for my family.

I have had the opportunity to go full time and I am choosing not to. I chose to come back from maternity leave part time so I had extra time with Paige. The extra money and MUCH cheaper insurance would be nice, but time with Paige is more important.

Sincerely,

A Proud Working Mama

Wow, that felt really good. If I offended you, I apologize, but I am speaking my mind.

Madison

I leave in a few hours for a work conference in Madison. YIPEE! Two nights, kid free, and husband free in a hotel room all to myself. Heaven.

Our weekend was fun and slightly busy. Took the Taurus to the mechanic to get fixed on Saturday morning. Mike took the dog hunting and left around 11am. Paige and I left for my mom and dad's in the afternoon. Had supper there and went to Appleton to see Beauty and the Beast at Xavier High School. I really enjoyed it! Paige liked it too, but it didn't start until 7:45pm so she was almost asleep at the end. Went to church with them Sunday morning, then headed back home. A friend and her daughter came over in the afternoon and we went to Cinderella at our high school. It was ok, not nearly as good as Beauty and the Beast. Paige was rather antsey and we were both glad when it was over. My friend and her daughter came back over afterwards and stayed for pizza for supper. Paige and Abby play so well together-so cute to watch!

Now I'm here at work and have been a huge slacker. My boss isn't here and I'm leaving soon, so I have taken unproductivity to a new level.

Pregnancy update: My progesterone level is slightly low. It's 11 and it should be 15-20. I'm still not exactly sure why or what that means, but the nurse told me to wait to see if I'm pregnant or not. If I was pregnant, I may have to take progesterone supplements. Well I'm not. I started spotting yesterday. I am waiting for a call back from the nurse now. She suggested Clomid and I'm ready for it. I know the side effects aren't that pleasant, but I don't care. I want another child so badly.

Some chick on my mom's group message board started a post extoling the glories of being a SAHM and I could just puke. Of course like 8 people have responded to it since last night and it's so sickening. I'm ready to post something back, but I'm trying to formulate a thoughtful and intelligent response. They are of the understanding that if the wife can afford to SAH, then she should. Doesn't matter if she WANTS to work...oh no, you made those babies, you stay home with them. So, if you see on facebook that I'm irritated, that's why.

Back to being a nonproductive slacker!

Busy Busy Day

After stuffing my face at Margarita's last night and enjoying an absolutely huge and delish margarita, I was in no mood to wake up this morning. But I did. Off to Aurora I went for my progesterone blood test. I'm such a wimp about getting blood drawn, but it wasn't too bad. She tried my right arm first but no blood was coming out, so she had to poke my left arm. But I was a trooper. The lab tech was very sweet and made a joke about me never wanting to come in for blood draws again. I made a comment that hopefully the next time I come in, I'll be pregnant. The way she said "ooohhh I hope so" was so sweet and made me tear up. So feeling sorry for myself after sitting in the waiting room with a pregnant woman there for her blood glucose test, I decided to partake in some retail therapy. Kohl's is just way too close to Aurora and I had some things to return, so I felt obligated to go. I got a Christmas ornament for my mom's group Christmas party ornament exchange, 3 new shirts and a new purse. I returned $30 worth of stuff and spent $60. Nice.

Got to work and did not want to be there. After slacking off for most of the day, I left early to get to the sitter's by 4pm. Picked up the kid, went to the high school to get tickets for Cinderella at the high school PAC on Sunday for me, Paige and my friend and her daughter, to my work immunization clinic to get our flu shots (flumist for her, shot for me, my arm hurts) and to the grocery store. All in like 45 minutes. Got home, put up with a cranky kid, threw a pizza in the oven, and went to a 6pm meeting for a committee I signed up for through my church. Three pokes today-ouch. Mike offered to give me a 4th poke, he's so eloquent. I turned him down. Anywho, the committee is called the Family Life Committee and it's the brainchild of our priest. He wants us to plan family events that involve all three of the parishes. We are sort of merged with two other churchs, one about 5 miles away and one about 15. The other people on the committee are really nice and I think it will be fun. Our first event is a Family Game Night on a Friday night. We'll have snacks and refreshments, and people of all ages can play the games that are there-Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, etc. I'm in charge of making the flyer advertising it.

Came home and Paige was sleeping already. I haven't seen her much the past few days. Mike has been dropping her off at Sandi's in the AM which is AWESOME. But last night I ended up staying late at work and going straight to Margarita's, this morning Mike dropped her off, then we ran errands after work, and I took off again around 6pm and she was sleeping when I got home. But we'll be together all of this weekend and next weekend.

I guess I'll find out about my progesterone test tomorrow sometime. I'm peeing CONSTANTLY which is making me get my hopes up, but my boobs are starting to get sore tonight. I always get sore boobs about a week before my period starts. I was also super cranky today making me think I have PMS, but I think I may have forgotten to take my happy pill this morning. Damn happy pills. I hate it when I forget to take them.

Money Money Money

Holy shit, I just checked wbay.com and the wind chill is 18 degrees. WTF?

I did another Turbo Jam workout the other day...LOVE IT! So glad I got that DVD. I'm going to try the Turbo Sculpt tomorrow. No workouts this weekend. We raked the yard today so I'm counting that. Plus I did a ton of walking around while shopping yesterday and my heel was hurting.

Friday was my usual day off with Paige. We annoyed the crap out of each other all morning, then joyfully bid each other adieu at her bus stop. I frolicked into my house with glee at the thought of another 3 hours of a quiet house all to myself. Took pictures of a bunch of crap that I'm going to list on ebay, and then listed a couple of things. We need money BAD.

I'm so stressed about medical bills right now. We are currently paying $50 a month for Mike's chiropracter care this summer ($500 total so it will take us almost a year to pay off), we still owe for my ingrown toenail removal this summer (that was around $450), $80 for a recent trip to Urgent Care for another UTI that I had, $150 for the dentist for me from last month, and I really don't want to think about how much all this stuff with Dr. Gibson is going to cost. We've already gotten a $166 dollar bill from 2 different lab tests he ran at my office visit last month. Plus my HSG and now this week I'm having a progesterone blood test. Part of the problem is that we went on my insurance starting September 1st thinking it would be so great. We failed to notice that basically all labs, x-rays and other services are subjected to our $1000 individual deductible or $2000 family deductible and then covered 100%. The ingrown toenail and chiropracter stuff happened on Mike's insurance. We really were so stupid and should have waited until the first of the year to switch insurances. I'll probably just hit the $1000 mark at the end of the year and then start all over next year. I'm really not sure about the dentist bill. The first EOB from my insurance looked like all $400 worth of my services at the dentist were covered. I just got a different one from the insurance on Friday that said I owe like $150. Whatever. I'll just wait for the bill and go from there. The good thing about my insurance is that I can get a 90 day supply of my happy pills for $30, where on Mike's insurance it was $45/month. So we're saving about $100 right there. Plus we each get $150 in vision materials per year which is nice since we each wear contacts and glasses and routine vision exams are covered 100%. Infertility is covered 100% after the deductible. So if we have to pursue the infertility route, it won't be insanely expensive. Office visit copays on my insurance are $10, where Mike's is $30. So if Paige has an ear infection or something, it will only cost us $10, plus the prescription will be cheaper. Our premiums are about the same cost so I guess it comes out in the wash. But what's really nagging me is that whenever I've gone to the doctor in the past on Mike's insurance, I've only paid the $30 co pay and nothing else for lab, bloodwork, etc. The only thing is that with my $10 co pays, that if I ever decide to see a therapist (which I should, I have emotional eating issues) it will only be $10 per visit. I saw one last year and it was $30 a visit and I was going weekly for a while. My ingrown toenail is ingrown again, I think I have another UTI, and I really should get my heel checked out for plantar facitis.

On top of all the medical bills, we need a new furnace, the Taurus needs tires, and the Taurus also needs a bunch of front end work. We're going to slap all this on one of our CC's then transfer it to a no interest card and pay it off in one year. Not a huge fan of doing that but we both have awesome credit scores, and we didn't get the home equity line of credit so we have no other options. Wells Fargo Financial has contacted us about some short term loans but they have insanely high interest rates so I don't want to go that route.

I am so demented about money. We really need to save save save right now, but because I am feeling the pressure to save, I go out and spend a shitload of money. I'm like a defiant teenager-oh yeah? I'll show you who's going to save money!!! In the last week, I bought three pairs of pants at Old Navy for around $70, spent nearly $50 at Gymboree on pants and 3 pairs of jammies for Paige, $65 on a new pair of tennies for me from zappos.com, $75 yesterday at JCP on 3 new bras, a pair of shoes for Paige, hairspray and this leave in conditioner for Paige's hair, and $15 at Payless for new shoes for Paige. RIDICULOUS. Plus about $20 at Pro Bowl/Suamico Ale House on Saturday for lunch and bowling with Paige and a friend of mine and her daughter. So now Christmas is coming up, our land taxes will be due at the end of January, and Paige's school tuition will be due right after Christmas break. WTF?!?!?!? I have so much more I have to list

I have a bunch more stuff to list on ebay but it's rather time consuming. I'll have to plug away at it this week.

Our 44th President

Last night at 10pm, Barack Obama was named the 44th President of the United States. Mike and I watched the election coverage most of the night and could tell that Obama was going to win, but it was still so exciting when it was officially "called."

I was undecided at first, then watched the debates and did some research and decided to vote for Obama. Mike bashed Sarah Palin constantly and I always got on his case for it. But after learning more about her and hearing how she charged many personal trips to her travel expenses as the Alaska governor, forcing the taxpayers to pay for her family trips, that put me over the edge.

Once I made up my mind that Obama was the man, I became a big fan of his! He is so charasmatic, and I can really see him leading our country out of this huge mess. I also agree with where we stands on many issues. As a Catholic, it was difficult to vote for someone who is very pro-abortion, but there were other issues, namely the economy, the war in Iraq, and health care that are so much more important. So now I'm very excited and hopeful for our country's future. I think Obama will be an excellent leader. I think any Republican that ran would have lost after the last 8 years of GW the worst fuck up in American history.

So if I have any readers who support John McCain, I'm curious what made you support him. Out of my, you know, 5 readers, this could be a long shot, but who knows. I'm honestly curious, I'm not trying to start an argument.

What other exciting news do I have to share with my 5 readers? I'm very close to getting a positive OPK! Today is day 14 of my cycle and have been expecting to get a +OPK, but I haven't gotten a thing since Sunday. Tonight, I started to get a second line...yahoo! So guess what we'll be doing the next few nights. =)

I've worked out every night this week! YAHOO again! Tonight I did a strength training workout for the first time in a long time. It felt really good to lift weights.

Epiphany

I just got done doing a Leslie Sansone exercise video. It was a 15 minute 1 mile walk and I loved it! It's from a set that I used to do when I was pregnant and in halfway decent shape. Now I'm not pregnant, just very overweight. With my plantar facitis, I've been getting so frustrated that I can't exercise, but I've decided to start VERY VERY small. This was only 15 minutes and just the right intensity. I broke a little bit of a sweat, and I feel SO GOOD right now! So now I've decided I'm not going to do any of my Firm or other really tough workouts and am just going to stick with the Leslie's and other easier ones. This way, I'll look forward to working out and actually DO IT. I'm searching on ebay for a lot of Leslie workout videos. I'm so excited!

Halloween Festivities

We celebrated Halloween all week! On Monday, we went to the high school for their annual Halloween party. A bunch of the high school kids set up a ton of games in the gym, and the little kids go around and play them and get candy. Yesterday we went to Sweet Street at Shopko Hall in Green Bay. It's basically this huge expo center with a ton of kids stuff in it. There were about 5 different bounce house things, the Little Gym, an entertainment stage, mini golf, pumpkin bowling, and trick or treating for the kids. It took Paige and I both a while to get used to all the activities and figure out where she wanted to go, but after discovering the YMCA bounce house, I think we spent the majority of our time there!

Then today we went to a "Trunk or Treat" event put on by my playgroup. A shitload of us went to our main organizer's house (and by house, I mean 6000+ square foot mansion in the woods), parked our cars on the empty lots around her house, decorated our trunks and set candy out for the kids. My decorations consisted of Halloween garland, "caution" tape and plastic spider rings that I hastily bought at Walmart on the way there. Some people (the ones with WAAAAYYYY too much time on their hands) went all out. I was not one of those people. I also bought WAAAAYYYY too much candy. I don't know what I was thinking. The mom's group event was ok. There are just so many new members and so many people I don't know and it seems like no one wants to make any effort to get to know each other. Kind of frustrating. But Paige had fun and actually left my side a few times, so it was a success! Tonight we had trick or treating in our little town and Paige made a haul. My mom and sister came up and we're sending a bunch of candy home with them. I think I'll have Mike take a bunch too, and I'll get rid of some at work. Not the good stuff though-we're keeping all the chocolate here! I feel like we are finally starting to break into this town a little bit. I actually chatted with some of my neighbors today and may have even found a potential babysitter! YAHOO! The lady that taught Paige's Vacation Bible School this summer has a 7th grade daughter and they live just up the road from us. Her mom even offered to have Paige come to their house. SWEET.

I'm a little crabby right now. I have a canker sore way up on the left side of my gums, my ingrown toenail that I've had cut out twice in the last year is ingrowing again and hurting, my left heel hurts from my plantar faciitis, and I have this HUGE zit on the right side of my waist. WTF? It's super painful and I want to pop it so bad. But the canker sore won't stop me from inhaling ridiculous amounts of candy.

"Whatcha Doin' Hon?"

OK if Mike asks me this one more time when he can very clearly see what I'm doing, I might have to punch him. Yesterday he came downstairs when I was surfing the net (reading blogs, email, my mom's group message board, etc.) and asked me "whatcha doing?" I was so annoyed I said "what do you think I'm doing? I'm on the computer!!!!!" Seriously. I just wanted a few minutes of peace and quiet and alone computer time, and he comes barging in and then asks me what I'm doing?!?! WTF man?!?!?

Tonight I had our checkbook and a printout of our checking account from online, holding a pen and calculator. He turns to me and goes "whatcha doing hon?" Again, seriously?!?!?

I love that man dearly, but sometimes he just annoys the crap out of me.

So I had my HSG test this morning. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. The worst part was showing my crotch to my new doctor, his medical student, the radiologist, and a student radiologist. I was ready to call some janitors and the registration people in there too. Maybe Miguel, the guy that answered the phone at Dr. Gibson's office when I called to tell him I had my period should have come over too. The dye went streaming through my wide open tubes, so no problems there. It's good because there's no scar tissue and no endometriosis showing up from my ovarian cyst. On the other hand, I wanted an answer to why I wasn't getting pregnant. So now I have to take an OPK to make sure I'm ovulating, then call his office when I get a positive OPK. I guess I go in for bloodwork then to test my progesterone level. I'm going to call my friend tomorrow who is his nurse to confirm this. Maybe Miguel will answer the phone again when I call to tell him I got a positive OPK. Be better than telling him I started my period. That wasn't embarrassing AT ALL.

I enjoyed my quiet day to myself SO MUCH. I have got to do this more often. I was out of the hospital 40 minutes after I got there this morning, so I had the whole day to myself. What a marvelous feeling. I browsed around Kohl's for a while (picked up a pair of brown cords, and winter mittens and gloves) then went over to my friend Melissa's house to hang out with her and another mom's group friend. It was so nice. Got back in time to meet the appraiser then bummed around the house. Started to look for our camera under the bed, but that turned into a cleaning fest. Under my bed, behind the nightstand and behind my dresser were absolutely disgusting. Full of dog hair, dust and random crap. So I vacuumed and dusted like a crazy woman. Still haven't found our camera but at least there aren't piles of dog hair and dust in every corner of our bedroom. Have you noticed that the more you clean, the more you find you have to clean? I noticed that the walls in my bedroom really need to be wiped down and I need to dust the blinds and curtains in my room too. UGH.

I need to get some new pix on facebook so I'm off to download from our piece of shit camera.

Bailey's

So it's been a stressful week and I'm sitting here enjoying a Bailey's over ice. YUM. I very very rarely drink, let alone at night at home so this is a rare and enjoyable treat for me. Why such a stressful week?
1. We can't find our damn camera and it's driving me absolutely crazy.
2. I was stuck at work on Tuesday with a dead battery.
3. Mike replaced the battery which cost $60. Not a ton of money, but still.
4. Paige has been, in general, an annoying pain in the ass.
5. Paige is the world's worst shopper. I took her shopping with me in GB two nights in a row-wtf was I thinking?
6. I got my period yesterday and it came with a bang. Major cramps and super heavy bleeding.
6. There is ALWAYS something to do around here-cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. It never ends.
7. I got Paige to her bus stop about 1 minute later than I normally do, and we missed the bus because one kid didn't ride it because he's sick today. UGH!!!!!!

I am just feeling overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being an adult. I am so sick of ALWAYS having something to do, whether it's balance the checkbook, reset my pin number on my debit card, order new checks, fold the 4 loads of clean laundry, pay bills, get Paige to the bus on time on Fridays, re-decorate our bedroom, wait for the home equity line to get approved so we can get our new furnace, etc. and that's just here at home. That's not counting the 10 million things at work that I'm responsible for. I know I'm lucky that I have Friday afternoons to myself, and I shouldn't complain. But I need more down time just to myself. A quiet house with no one here and nothing to do.

Stuck At Work

So it's 6:30 pm and I'm still at work. Why? Because my car won't start. It's so dead that it won't even start after someone tried jumping it with jumper cables. UGH. So I had to scramble frantically to find someone to pick up Paige because my sitter had to leave for a doctor appointment. Mike wasn't answering his phone so I had no clue where he was. I had to call three people before the third person was able to go get Paige. I called a couple of people here at work and they either didn't answer or didn't know how to jump a car. Tried calling 911 but the cops won't jump cars. UGH. Finally a cleaning guy helped me out, but no go on the car starting. So I had Mike go get Paige, and now he is on his way to get me.

I still can't find my damn camera! However, we were able to get my wedding ring off the other night-good thing. And Mike found out we can get free checks through our bank. I tried ordering new ones last night, but they were like $60 for 4 boxes...no way.

Man we are going to be spending money like crazy, a new battery for my car, new tires for my car, a new furnace...UGH. I'd also like to redecorate our bedroom since ours is obscenely ugly.

Blah

I'm at work and I so do not want to be here. I'm so tired and so crabby. Paige has another cold and is also tired and crabby. It made for a crabby morning at our house. She's up at 6am, Mike leaves at 6:45am, I don't know why he can't take her to Sandi's. I casually brought it up one day, but I think I'm going to have to forcefully bring it up again soon. Since I'm the only drop off and pick up person, it gets rather old.

I also hate the way I look today. I'm wearing black pants that are too short and slightly faded out, a blouse I got on clearance that looked good on the hanger and I didn't bother trying on, but looks really bad on me, and I'm having a bad hair day. Combined with the bags under my eyes, I look hot.

I really really really do not want to be at work today. As I got back in the car after dropping Paige off, I had an overwhelming desire to just drive home and be a bum all day. Maybe I can just be a bum here.

On a good note, people have donated $75 for the Humane Society for us to donate in memory of a coworker's dog-she had to have her put down a couple of weeks ago.

I am selling more candy bars for St. Anthony's. Hopefully I won't get stiffed this time around.

Relaxing Weekend

It really was a nice weekend. Saturday, Mike took Paige and picked her up from dance class and I was a busy little bee then. I vacuumed the house and washed and hung up three loads of laundry. We played outside in the leaves for a while, Paige rode her bike and played hopscotch. I took a ton of pictures with our old camera since I can't find our regular one...it's driving me CRAZY!!!! Also driving me crazy is the fact that I can't get the checkbook balanced. After spending almost 2 hours attempting it, I said fuck it and wrote in the new balance according to wellsfargo.com. But I digress. Mike cooked on the grill, he got the kid to bed, then went to the Avenue to work at a fundraiser for St. Anthony's. The Avenue is a bar/restaurant and every year, they host Octoberfest which is a all you can drink, all the pizza you can eat for $15 a person. Mike worked the paddlewheels and earned us 3 hours towards our fundraising quota.

Today we went to church and listened to a very strange, inappropriately political homily by a substitue priest. Went to an apple orchard about 20 minutes from here, then turned my kitchen into an applesauce factory. I made applesauce and apple crisp out of 20 pounds of apples. The apple crisp kicks ass and I can't stop eating it. Paige went to play with the kids across the street while Mike and I enjoyed a quickie (gotta get it while you can) and watched the Packer game. Paige was almost falling asleep during supper so we got her in bed, I took the dog for a walk and we watched Desperate Housewives.

I have a wild hair up my ass to get my way too small wedding ring off my finger. I just found an article on ehow.com with 5 different methods to try. I tried spraying Pam on it and working it off, but because I've gained so much weight, that baby is stuck on there. Wish me luck.

Whining

OK, so if you don't want to hear me piss and moan, stop reading right now. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Work, in a nutshell, sucks. We switched to these stupid VOIP phones which I guess are internet phones or something gay like that. Well for the last week or so, they have quit working. The voice on the other line after about 5 minutes into the call gets all distorted and robotic sounding. Every so often, your phone will ring, you pick up and it keeps ringing. Or you can't get to your messages. When that happens, you have to unplug this cord in the back of the phone, sit there for a minute, then plug it back in. Lovely. So since our computers, phone lines, fax machines and copiers all seem to be connected on one cord, our fax machines and copiers are all taking a shit too. It's great. I'm waiting for our computers to crash now too.

I'm taking a collection for a coworker who put her dog down last week. We are donating it to the Oconto Humane Society in her dog's memory. Someone put an envelope in my mailbox with 3 singles and 4 quarters. Seriously. Am I supposed to tape the quarters in there? Just stick a $5 in the envelope...not hard people.

My boss is a fricking retard. She's on meds for god knows what and I think her docs have been messing with her meds because she is more fucked up than normal. She can't hardly speak a coherant sentence and is giggly one second and a homicidal maniac the other.

I think I'm going to quit my bible study. It's a 24 week long one every Monday night and I made it to 18 weeks-through the Old Testament. It's just getting too hard to go every Monday night. I think Jesus understands.

I'm not pregnant. Everyone around me is pregnant and I am not. This really sucks. I don't want to go down this path again like I did from October 06-Sept 07. We had three adorable babies come in for car seat appointments and I held them all. I ached inside and wanted to cry. Please God let this HSG test be normal, or show something that can be fixed. Or if I have something wrong with me, let it be fixable. I want to make Paige a big sister. I ache when I see her around little kids, she wants to be a big sister so badly and I feel like I am failing her.

What is the point of a blog? Is it to make people laugh? Is it supposed to be entertaining? I wish mine was funny. I think I'm a funny person, but this blog is not funny. It's basically me bitching about my life.

October

Ah, October. This month stirs many memories inside of me, both good and bad.

October 2001: Mike and I got married! October 5, 2001. It was a beautiful day, slightly chilly, but sunny and crisp and the leaves were gorgeous. I bawled like a baby coming up the aisle with my dad and was so thrilled to be marrying Mike!

October 2003: I was newly pregnant and feeling it. I was very sick, threw up several times a day and was overall just plain miserable.

October 2006: CBS #2 (Crazy Bitch Sister, the 2 girls that falsly accused my dad were sisters. How convenient.) falsly accused my dad of sexually assaulting her. The cops arrested my dad around 10pm one night at home. He had a hearing and was bonded out that night on a $10,000 cash bond. Between then and his trial, he couldn't be alone unsupervised with Paige. A horrible time.

October 2007: October 18, 2007 to be more exact. The day my dad was found not guilty. His trial started on October 15, 2007. I will never ever forget October 18, 2007. I tend to look at my life as pre 10/18/07 and post 10/18/07. Every time I look at pictures I think "before" or "after." I hope this goes away. I will also never forget the time on October 18, 2007 that I heard the jury had a verdict to the time we left my mom and dad's after celebrating. I was the first to hear the jury had decided and called my sister. I will never forget my reaction to hearing "not guilty." I literally fell to my knees from sitting on the bench. I will never forget the bright lights of the media cameras or their voices "what do you have to say Dave? No one is saying anything?" when we left the courtroom.

October is just generally a busy month here at work too. Flu clinics and breast cancer awareness month make it busy for me.

I think October 2008 will be a good one! The Brewers are in the playoffs, Mike and I are getting away this weekend for our anniversary, I'm going to see Rascall Flatts in concert next week, and Paige will have a blast trick or treating!

GO BREWERS!!!

We are so excited!!! The Brewers made the playoffs for the first time in 26 years! Being 32, I really don't remember the last time. But since I married an old man, he was 10 the last time it happened and remembers it. He was so excited today, I honestly think he was teary eyed! Since Spee Dee has season tickets, they get playoff tickets too. So he put our names in for them and I'm hoping we get them! But it's all of Spee Dee and in GB alone out of like 25-30 employees, 15 put their name in. So it's a long shot, but we can hope.

Random annoyances. We had a baptism at church today, once again a couple we've never seen before and probably never will. Same thing last weekend, baby got baptized, never saw them before and didn't see them today. Very rare for our church to have 2 baptisms in a row, much less in the same month. Honestly for a while, it was a baptism every couple of months. For a while it was at least 2-3 funerals for every baptism. To get married in a Catholic church you have to go through all sorts of preparation...meetings with the priest, tests, meetings with other couples, a day long retreat, etc. which I think is good. Marriage is a sacrament and a big deal. Baptism is a sacrament too....don't you think there should be some sort of preparation for it...like you have to attend mass regularly for at least the month leading up to the baptism.

Another annoyance. My computer. It sucks big ass. It's at least 6 years old and is running super slow lately. When I type, the letters are way behind, so I can't see what I've typed until a few seconds later...extremely annoying. I want a laptop SO BAD. Probably won't happen since I also want a new dining room table, a makeover in our bedroom, and slipcovers for our furniture. I also need some wall hangings in the kitchen, it's really blah. Mike also thinks we may need a new furnace since our makes a god awful banging noise when it runs and rather than stick a bunch of money in a 15 year old one, it would make more sense to just get a brand new more efficient one. Plus the Taurus squeaks constantly. But Mike seems to have figured out the problem and thinks he can order the part pretty cheap and him and his dad can fix it in a few weeks when his dad is here. Hoo boy, I'll have a lot to blog about then. Thank god I'll be at my sister's baby shower! Wow, I have really digressed.

Let's keep going. In today's paper there was a section on the GB Gamblers, a local hockey team. A bunch of kids right out of HS, they play here for a few years before they play college hockey. Anyway, each player had his picture in it, with his hometown, stats, etc. and they were each asked "Fave Hottie." A little tacky, doncha think?

Good thing I have the Brewers to lift my spirits!

Seriously?

So I'm selling Seroogy's candy bars at work for a fundraiser for St. Anthony's. They're actually going slower than I thought they would, but about 30 have sold in the last 2 weeks. On Friday, I counted the money in the envelope and I should have $52.50-I had $50.65. WTF?!?!?! The bars are $1.50 each and there were a bunch of nickels and dimes in there. If people just threw a bunch of change in there that didn't add up to $1.50...not cool. I mean seriously people, let's not rip off the Catholic school fundraiser. I sent my daughter there to learn good morals so I find it ironic that people are ripping off the fundraiser of that very school.

So Paige I went shopping yesterday and it was actually an enjoyable experience. We hit up Shopko where she got a pair of shoes and I got jeans. Then down to Target where she got another pair of shoes (I exchanged 2 pairs that were too big for her), and I got Kristin's baby shower gifts. We decide to eat at Fazoli's so on the way there we stop at Factory Card Outlet for a bday card for my mom and Once Upon a Child just so I can check out the new store. She was so agreeable and actually behaved in the stores. BREAKTHROUGH!!! She must have overheard me complaining about what a terrible shopper she is, so she kept asking "I'm a good shopper today, Mommy?" She's so sweet. Made me feel bad about complaining about her, but she is usually not a good shopper. After lunch at Fazoli's she crashed in the car on the way home.

Back to watching The Hills!

The Bold Are True

Appearance:
- I am 5′4 or shorter.
- I think I’m ugly.
- I have many scars.
- I tan easily.
- I wish my hair was a different color.
- I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color.
- I have a tattoo.
- I wear glasses.
- I am self-conscious about my appearance.
- I have/I’ve had braces.
- I’d get/have gotten plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free, scar-free.
- I’ve been told I’m attractive by a complete stranger.
- I have had more than 2 piercings.
- I have had piercings in places besides my ears.
- I have freckles.

Family/Home Life:
- I’ve sworn at my parents.
- I’ve run away from home.
- I’ve been kicked out of the house.
- My biological parents are together.
- I have a sibling less than one year old.
- I want to have kids someday.
- I have children.
- I’ve lost a child.

Embarrassment:
- I’ve slipped out a “LOL” in a spoken conversation.
- Disney movies still make me cry.
- I’ve snorted while laughing.
- I’ve laughed so hard I’ve cried.
- I’ve glued my hand to something.
- I’ve laughed till some kind of beverage came out of my nose.
- I’ve had my trousers rip in public.

Health:
- I was born with a disease/impairment.
- I’ve had stitches.
- I’ve broken a bone.
- I’ve had my tonsils removed.
- I’ve sat in a doctor’s office with a friend.
- I’ve had my wisdom teeth removed.
- I’ve had serious surgery.
- I’ve had chicken pox.
Traveling:
- I’ve driven over 200 miles in one day.
- I’ve been on a plane.
- I’ve been to Canada.
- I’ve been to Niagara Falls.
- I’ve been to Japan.
- I’ve been to Africa.

Experiences:
- I’ve been lost in my city.
- I’ve seen a shooting star.
- I’ve wished on a shooting star.
- I’ve seen a meteor shower.
- I’ve gone out in public in my pajamas.
- I’ve pushed all the buttons in a lift.
- I’ve been to a casino.
- I’ve been skydiving.
- I’ve gone skinny dipping.
- I’ve played spin the bottle.
- I’ve crashed a car.
- I’ve been skiing. water and snow
- I’ve been in a play.
- I’ve met someone in person from the Internet.- I’ve caught a snowflake on my tongue.
- I’ve seen the Northern Lights.
- I’ve sat on a roof top at night.
- I’ve played chicken.
- I’ve seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- I’ve eaten Sushi.
- I’ve been snowboarding.

Relationships:
- I’m single.
- I’m in a relationship.
- I’m available.
- I’m engaged
- I’m married.
- I’ve gone on a blind date.
- I’ve been the dumpee more than the dumper.
- I have a fear of abandonment.
- I’ve been divorced.
- I’ve had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back.
- I’ve told someone I loved them when I didn’t.
- I’ve told someone I didn’t love them when I did.
- I’ve kept something from a past relationship.
Sexuality:
- I’ve had a crush on someone of the same gender.
- I’ve kissed a member of the same gender.
- I’ve had sex with someone of the opposite gender.
- I’ve had sex with someone of the same gender.
- I’ve had sex with more than one person at the same time.
- I am a cuddler.
- I’ve been kissed in the rain.
- I’ve had sex outdoors.
- I’ve hugged a stranger.
- I have kissed a stranger.
- I have had sex with a stranger.

Honesty/Crime:
- I’ve done something I promised someone else I wouldn’t.
- I’ve done something I promised myself I wouldn’t.
- I have lied to my parents about where I am.
- I am keeping a secret from the world.
- I’ve cheated while playing a game.
- I’ve cheated on a test.
- I’ve driven through a red light
- I’ve witnessed a crime.
- I’ve been in a fist fight.
- I’ve been arrested.
- I’ve shoplifted.

Drugs/Alcohol:
- I’ve consumed alcohol.
- I smoke cigarettes.
- I smoke pot.
- I regularly drink. what is regular??
- I’ve taken painkillers when I didn’t need them.
- I’ve taken cough medicine when i wasn’t sick.
- I’ve done hard drugs.
- I’ve been addicted to an illegal substance.
- I can’t swallow pills.
- I can swallow about 5 pills at a time no problem.

Mental health:
- I have been diagnosed with depression.
- I shut others out when I’m depressed.
- I take anti-depressants.
- I have had an eating disorder.
- I’ve slept an entire day when I didn’t need it.
- I’ve hurt myself on purpose.
- I’m addicted to self harm.
- I’ve woken up crying.

Death:
- I’m afraid of dying.
- I hate funerals.
- I’ve seen someone dying.
- I have attempted suicide.
- Someone close to me has attempted suicide.
- Someone close to me has committed suicide.

Random:
- I can sing well.
- I’ve stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant.
- I open up to others too easily.
- I watch the news.
- I don’t kill bugs.
- I hate hearing songs that sacrifice meaning for sake of being able to rhyme.
- I swear regularly.
- I am a morning person.
- I paid for my mobile phone ring tone.
- I’m a snob about grammar.
- I am a sports fanatic.
- I play with my hair.
- I have/had “x”s in my screen name.
- I love being neat.
- I love Spam.
- I’ve copied more than 30 CD’s in a day.
- I bake well.
- I don’t know how to shoot a gun.
- I am in love with love.
- I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS.
- I laugh at my own jokes.
- I eat fast food weekly.
- I believe in ghosts.
- I am online 24/7, even as an away message.
- I can’t sleep if there is a spider in the room.
- I am really ticklish.
- I love white chocolate.
- I bite my nails.
- I play video games.
- I’m good at remembering faces.
- I’m good at remembering names.
- I’m good at remembering dates.
- I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.

3 Hours of Freedom

Ahhh, the sweet sound of silence, of freedom, of a child-free house. I just dropped Paige off at the bus stop (it was 10 minutes early...GRRRRR....) and I have the next three hours to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I could almost cry with relief. It has been a long morning, starting with her wake up time of 6am. Luckily Mike can get her a couple of waffles, snuggled up in a blanket in front of the TV and she's good for at least an hour. She was ok for me today but it all started to go downhill around 10:30 am when I got her out of the tub. She wanted fish sticks for lunch which I made along with some green beans. She had about 25 minutes to eat so we could get to the bus stop in time. I went to hang up some clean laundry in my room and I think all she ate was the ketchup. After about 10 minutes she declared she didn't want lunch. I was so mad I almost spit fire. I'm so sick of spending time cooking food only to have her not eat it. Plus the amount of food we waste on her makes me sick. So I told her I'm wrapping it up and it will be her supper and also that she would be hungry at school. She didn't really seem to care so just to make myself feel better I sent her to her room until it was time to leave. I think she was worried about missing the bus and that's why she didn't eat. Well she'll be hungry at school and I honestly don't care. I almost danced into the house with giddiness when I got home. The only thing I really have to do is make zucchini bread for the MNO tonight. But that won't take long. Of course I can always clean out drawers, the freezer, fridge, etc. but screw it. My other days off where she's been in school I've either worked from home or ran errands. Off to go enjoy my FREEDOM!!!!

Nice Day

I stayed home with Paige today since I have to work on Saturday, I was happy to find out she didn't have school today because it's an early release day. 4K doesn't go to school on early release day since they'd be there for about an hour.

We had a really nice day, and I was actually quite productive. We snuggled in bed until about 8am, then had breakfast where I had to break the news that our neighbors including her beloved Ava are moving. She did not take the news well and cried for a while. I got teary eyed too, but had to keep it together. She recovered, and wanted to play on the computer (www.starfall.com..LOVE IT!) So I threw in some laundry and vacuumed my upstairs floors since they were beyond gross. Aren't I just the happy housewife? Then we went outside so I could hang up my laundry. And I swear, the planets were aligned just right because we had the best time out there. I was able to hang out my laundry, play fetch with the dog (she actually chased after it, brought it back to me AND dropped it...in that order!!! Big deal for her.) and Paige played by herself beautifully. She didn't whine when I sat down, hung up clothes, went inside for a minute, or played with the dog. She had a ball mixing sand, water, flower petals and leaves in this bucket, dumping in the sandbox and starting all over again. I couldn't believe it, I think I heard angels singing at one point. She played with her scooter and her and Duchess chased each other around for a while. It really was cute. Came in, ate lunch, and she went down for quiet time while I attacked the back bedroom. It was a mess in there, it's our catch all room and you seriously could only take about 2 steps in there because it was FULL. After quiet time it was raining so I made some fingerpaint from scratch...I swear I was channeling Martha Stewert today or something. Then Ava came over for about an hour, they started snipping at each other so I sent them over to Ava's house. Paige came back after about a half hour, we had tacos for supper and Mike took over the bath/bedtime routine. I decided to get my fat ass off the couch and exercise so I did a work out DVD....haven't done one in months. It felt pretty good but I got bored at the end like I always do. It was a good workout, I just have such a short attention span.

So tomorrow is my usual day off, and Paige goes back to school. I'll have Friday afternoon all to myself for the first time (last week didn't count since I was rummage saleing and running errands all afternoon getting ready for our trip to Milwaukee) I'm definitely planning to vacuum my basement since it's even worse than my upstairs and give myself a pedicure. AAAHHH, a quiet afternoon all to myself. I can't wait!!!

It's Proactive, OK?

So Thursday night, I get myself ready for bed and notice I have a big zit on the side of my face. Because this Proactiv zit mask is supposed to be some miracle in a bottle, I spackle it on the zit and go to bed. On Friday, I decide I really can't resist going to some rummage sales and have no choice but to bring the kid with. The first one we go to is at a house where the mom sends her kids to St. Anthony's, so we sort of know each other. She seems nice enough, but a tad bit snooty. I pick up a Pooh Bear Halloween costume for Paige there for $2, I think it's the deal of the century because it's really heavy, has a hood and mittens. Plus she looks darn cute in it. It's a little tight in the crotch, but I'll make it work. On to the next sale. Total crap, so we move on. I see a few people I recognize from town, but really overpriced. Paige seems to be holding up so I say let's go to the St. Anthony's rummage sale because I know the stuff is priced super cheap there and she can play on the playground while I shop. So we pull in the parking lot, I look in the rearview mirror to say something to Paige and notice THE ZIT CREAM IS STILL ON MY FACE!!!! Obviously in the 2 minutes it took me to get dressed, brush my teeth and throw a headband in my hair (no contacts or make up, I looked HOT) I did not notice this white crap on the side of my face. Luckily I keep wet wipes in my car (call me McGyver) and wiped it off, recalling all the people I saw at the previous 3 rummage sales. UGH.

The Packers won tonight! WHO HOO! And so did the Brewers! Better head upstairs...hubby has been all over me and it's easier to just put out so he quits groping me. Aren't we so in love.

Why?

I read in last night's paper that a baseball coach in Appleton accused of sexually assaulting a few boys killed himself on Monday. I believe he had a either a hearing or his trial was supposed to start this week. His name was Michael and he and his sister were at my dad's trial last October and we became friendly. Mike even called him right after the jury decision in my dad's trial to tell him that my dad was innocent. He told us he was falsely accused like my dad and was going to be tried in Outagamie County by the DA there, Carrie Schneider (aka She-Devil.) I guess they were there to get the inside scoop.

I don't know if he was guilty or innocent, but our society has forgotten the concept innocent until proven guilty. Some of the comments left online in the papers are just downright cruel, they assume he was guilty. I have so many questions and ache for his family. If he was falsely accused, we know exactly what they were going through and this is a horrible ending. Why did he kill himself? Does that show his guilt? Would it be better to end his life rather than going to prison? If he was innocent, imagine the pain he went through and figured it was just easier to end it all. What is wrong with our society today? Don't people realize that there are false accusers out there?

Labor Day Weekend Recap

We had such a fun Labor Day weekend! Friday we packed up and headed up to Kristin and Tom's cabin near Eagle River. It's an old trailor that he is tearing down and fixing up. He's already tore down and started rebuilding the kitchen and living room. So it's a little rustic-no hot water, and no running water in the kitchen. But there is electricity so we had a microwave, toaster, frig, etc. and running water in the bathroom and flush toilets. Plus it's on a small private lake so it's super quiet and beautiful. So we all (my parents, Kristin and Tom) got there Friday afternoon, unpacked, and hung out the rest of the day. Mike and I grilled fish, potatoes and sweet corn for supper. We had a bonfire where Tom scared Paige with a scary story. She wanted to tell scary stories but after Tom scared her, she was done!

Saturday, we lounged around all day. I read, Paige ran around while everyone entertained her, her and Mike did some fishing, etc. After her nap, we took her mini-golfing and go-karting for the first time. She LOVED it all and was actually pretty good at mini golf. My parents cooked out for supper that night. Had another bonfire where we roasted marshmellows and told FUNNY stories, at Paige's request!

Sunday, we went to church, then to Tom's mom's cabin to pick up her pontoon boat. We spent all afternoon on the pontoon and did some swimming. It was the perfect day for it-hot and sunny. Paige had a BLAST! Went back to Tom's mom's for some well-deserved showers (sorry to the people who sat by us at church) then Kristin and Tom cooked out that night. Back to Kristin and Tom's cabin where we all turned in pretty early.

Monday, we got up, cleaned and packed up and was out of there by 10:30 am. Got home and did a bunch of laundry and unpacking. Paige was pooped so we were pretty low key all afternoon. Cooked cheddarwursts on the grill for supper and got her in bed by 7:30pm.

The whole weekend was so much fun, it was great spending so much time with my family. My mom and sister fought some, and Kristin and Tom fought some, but everyone else got along and we laughed so much. I have many memories of the weekend that make me laugh when I think of them. We're so lucky!

Not sure if this will work, but here is a link to the pix I posted in facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7085&l=463b5&id=1248601763

School

So tonight was Paige's 4K orientation at St. Anthony's. She was beside herself with excitement and I had a knot in my stomach.

After putting on our nametags and checking out the other parents, we gathered in the 5K room where we prayed for our kids, then the 5K kids stayed in their room, 4K went into their room, and us parents went into a different classroom for our meeting. It was all very overwhelming-early release days, bussing, dress code, fundraising, home and school association, etc. I pretty much had tears in my eyes the whole time and was on the verge of a major breakdown. I even volunteered to sell candy bars at work for fundraising-aren't I just a top notch parent? =)

Then we went back into the 4K room where Paige was in 7th heaven. The teacher said she asked for us once, but was totally fine when she was told that we would be back when we were done with our meeting. She'll have 9 kids in her class. I asked about bathroom breaks-weird I know, but when that kid has to go, she has to go!

So we mingled a little bit, Paige drank several glasses of juice and got totally wired, I paid the snack fee and filled out her school vaccination record. The secretary was quite impressed that I kept her vaccination record in my wallet-I thought all parents did. If I didn't keep it in there, I'd definitely lose it. Paige was in love with her teacher and gave her a hug before we left.

Paige, you have grown up so fast! I've made many mistakes over the past 4 years and I'd give anything to go back and have more patience and yell ALOT less. I hope we have prepared you in the right way so that you are ready for school and love it. I don't know how I'm going to keep it together on Tuesday when you get on the bus. I know I can't cry in front of you because you will be so excited. I know it will be scary-but what an adventure you are starting! Please smile for me because I'll take lots of pictures-this is such a big day! Daddy and I love you so very much!

Color Quiz

Just for kicks:

Sara took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Seeks success, stimulation, and a life full of exp..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

TMI Tuesday 149- When you wish upon a star edition

You find a fairy. With a wave of their wand they can change anything for you.

What is the one thing you would change about your body?
My weight. I'd like about 75 pounds to just go away.

What is the one personality trait you would change?
My quick judgement of others.

What is the one thing about your job you would change?
The fact that my boss keeps dumping shit on me because I seem to be one of a very few who gets anything done. Here's your reward...more work.

What is the one thing about your home you would change?
I’d add either a hall or bathroom closet.

What is the one thing about your Significant Other you would change?
That he doesn't seem to think sometimes before doing something.

Who is the one person you would poof out of your life and why?
A certain co worker. She is SO ANNOYING.

Who is the one person you would poof back in and why?
My college best friend Tara. We ended up living about 3 hours away and kept in touch for a while, but after I had Paige, we drifted apart...our lives were different.

Weekend Recap

Friday: had a super lazy morning, got my haircut (LOVE IT!), then got together with some friends at Brain Freeze and afterwards went to an elementary school playground nearby. Then we went to Shopko to get her a box of wipes and kleenex for school, and a flat iron and hairspray for me. Total nightmare-that kid is the worst shopper. I found her a couple of basic jeans on sale for $12 each. I guess that's a good deal, but I'm still shocked at how much more expensive big girl clothes are. Gone are the days of finding nice stuff at rummage sales for $1. She fell asleep on the way home, was a total bear when we got home and gave me a really hard time about going down for quiet time at home. I'm proud to say I won that battle because Mama needed some quiet time of her own! Cooked supper, Mike got home, then we took the kid to our county fair. I'd like to say it was "Let Out Your Weird Day" but I have a feeling that's the audience that is attracted to the Oconto County Fair. As long as we just looked at the animals and not the people (who were surprisingly animal-like) we were fine. Paige went on a few rides, I got an extremely overpriced funnel cake ($5! for fried bread!!!) Got home way too late and threw the kid in bed.

Saturday: again, had a super lazy morning (do we see a theme here), then met some friends at Art Street in Green Bay. Paige whined while we looked at stuff we wanted to and had a blast doing crafts. She was fascinated by the Oneida Pow Wow dancers-I found it pretty cool too. Went to our friends house for supper while Paige and their daughter ran around like two peas in a pod and the adults enjoyed the time away from our respective offspring.

Sunday: Mike went fishing in the morning, I took the kid to church, then we went to my sister and brother in law's new house all afternoon. It's a very nice house and they seem to like it alot. They are about 45 minutes away which is AWESOME!!!! They house is way out in the country, but they have a 4 wheeler so they have a bunch of land to ride around on it. We all took turns on the 4 wheeler-FUN!!! The total rednecks that we are, we even let Paige go on it a few times, I think they went a total of about 5 MPH when she was on it. Ate at Fazoli's in GB, then came home. Picked a shitload of beans from our garden, took the laundry off the line and got sucked into a few episodes of Snapped. Man, that show is addictive.

Today: at work and I really don't feel like being here. I was only in the office last week Monday so I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on. Suppose I should start with checking the 9 voicemails I have. UGH.